Easy Monster Crafts For Children.

When I was little, I was certain monsters lived under my bed – and I quite often got my mum and dad up in the middle of the night to check for me, which I am sure they were thrilled about (I know I would be).

Luckily, Freya is completely not fussed about anything that I would have found frightening and, in fact, Halloween is her favourite time of the year – facepaint, costumes AND chocolate (hmm, I’m beginning to see why she might like it).

When I heard the theme for first craft box the folks at Craft Merrily were going to send us (as part of our new role as Tots 100 Bostik Bloggers) was “monsters” I knew we were going to have some fun.

I’m not sure who was more excited when the box arrived (I think it might have been me) but we spent a very happy morning creating.

Here’s what we made:

Monster Rocks.

There is a cool treasure hunt going on in Norfolk involving painted rocks.

Some of the designs have been amazing, like works of art, and I knew I wanted to do something with Freya and Monster Rocks seemed like a fab/easy idea.

You will need:

Rocks (remember it’s illegal in this country to take stones/rocks from the beach).

Acrylic paint or Sharpies.

Clear nail varnish.

Googly eyes (optional).

Bostik Glue Dots (optional).

First we gave the rocks a base colour. I wanted to do them all in primary colours but Freya was set on painting some white.

When they were dry we added the detail. I let Freya do most of them but it was just too tempting to have a go myself. She’s only really just getting the hang of faces but monster faces were perfectly suited to her current skills. In fact I think hers are better than mine!

We used the glue dots to stick the eyes on, which I am really impressed with (Freya could put them on so easily and there was no splodgy overspill when she squeezed a bit too hard) and we will definitely be using them again.

What I hadn’t counted on was her wanting to keep the rocks for so long. I figured she would get bored after a day or so and we could hide them but they are still going strong. I will take the googly eyes off and draw them on when she is ready to release them, just in case an animal tries to eat them, so I haven’t varnished them yet.

I’m pretty sure this is happening all over the place now. If you’re interested, I would search Facebook, as that’s where the Norfolk group, which has more than 20,000 members, is run from.

Fimo monster.

“What does a monster look like?” I asked Freya.

“Hmm, gross.”

“Ok, in what way. How many eyes would it have?”

“Maybe three. And horns!”

Right then! Challenge accepted.

You will need:

Two colours of Fimo.

Googly eyes.

Furry pipecleaner.

Bostik glue.

I’ve never used Fimo before but I knew it was modelling clay so I thought we should try and create the monster from her imagination.

Initially it was quite tough to shape but once it was warmed up Freya managed to make two balls (one big and one small) from the red and then horns, eyes and a mouth from the white.

We also made a white base to help him stand up (this was just a rolled out worm made into a circle). I poked two holes in his sides (using the pipe cleaner) for his arms.

Then we popped him in the oven for 20 mins and when he was cool stuck googly eyes and then arms on by filling the holes with glue..

I think it’s quite cool to keep and we will definitely be doing some more things with Fimo in the future.

Monster nests.

You will need:

Cup cake cases.

Paint.

Feathers.

My new BFFs Bostik Glue Dots.

Glitter (optional).

Monsters have to come from somewhere, right? We decided to make nests for the eggs.

Freya insisted on wearing her witch costume while we painted – although she would wear it every day if I let her. Thankfully she managed to keep the paint on the eggs (and her hands).

When they were dry she added some glitter glue before setting to work to make the nests.

She keeps telling me she can hear something moving inside so I am slightly worried every time I walk into the living room now, just in case there is a baby monster looking for a mummy to eat.

Toilet roll monsters.

Empty toilet rolls are a favourite around these parts, they are just so versatile. It was a no brainer to make toilet roll monsters.

You will need:

Empty toilet rolls.

Pipe cleaners.

Little hands.

Lollipop sticks.

Patterned card.

Googly eyes.

Bostik glue.

Yes, you’ve guessed it, Bostik Glue Dots.

First thing to do it cut the patterned card to size. Freya seemed to really enjoy this bit.

Gluing pretty much everything (including my fingers) seemed to go down very well too.

Next it was time to add the hands and decorate them. Once again, I set her imagination free and let her stick whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted. I think the animal print one looks a bit like Rambo (not sure if I should be worried about me or her here).

So there you have it, our first craft task completed. I hope you enjoyed, we certainly did. More next month.

We were sent a box of materials in order to make monster-themed crafts as part of our role as Bostik Bloggers.

We had to make wooden avatars for the boys to take to Scout camp so the craft box came out of retirement. Whilst it had been sleeping a glitter pot seemed to have broken open, we had very glittery avatars!